Good race! Not as many alleycats this year as when I first moved to NYC, seems like styling and polo have gained some of that popularity. But this race did have a good turn out. The BFF does attract some people. Anyway, I got 5th, again. I’m cool with that because top 10 get into the BFF messenger shorts program free. And they do prizes on stage before the show. I got made fun of because I borrowed a nice road bike from an old sponsor, Brad Baker, and didn’t win. And some because I had Crihs and JT believing I was going to run a completely alternate route, but that was not the case. We all took the same route, give or take some turns.

In 1910, Saltburn was the venue for an international fixture, England v Scotland at bicycle polo. The match was part of the town’s carnival, the English side all being members of the Tykes Cycling Club. England won 6-3, the team being ( left to right ) Robinson (captain), Tudor and Randall.

According to Lefa at cyclingnsht.blogspot.com this photo was published in a book titled Idrotten i Finlad (1906) by Ivar Wilskman. Idrotten i Finlad translates to Sports in Finland. Kaisaniemi park is in Helsinki, Finland and H.V.K. stands for Helsingfors Velocipedklubb.

Looks to me like they are playing bike polo in the street, or at the very least not in the grass.

A few months ago Eighthinch sent my team and I a set of their new mallet heads. Zach was the first to build his up. He just said it was too heavy to use. And this was after he cut it down to the shorter length, removed the protruding sleeve and drilled it out with many lightning holes. I know he did give it a couple weeks of play at The Pit but I have not seen him use it in a while.
I built mine up after just trimming it down to the shorter length. I did not have the matching mallet because they were not ready yet so I found a ski pole that fit the opening. Not all ski poles are the same outer diameter but finding one to fit is not that difficult. Making a hole that is aligned with the holes in the head is not that easy. I had a bit of a headache getting the bolt to run through correctly because the hole I made in my ski pole was off just a slight bit. This made it very difficult to make the nut thread onto the included bolt. After I did get it to thread on, it deformed the plastic meant to hold the nut in place. I’m guessing if you were to do this with the pre-drilled Eighthinch mallet shaft these troubles would not be so bad.
After building it I also felt like it was heavy. After just two games one if the caps flew off. There is one big problem with the design. There is a seam caused by the mold having two sides and on a very slim section there is a hole for the screws that keeps the cap attached. Those holes are on the seam and the seam cracked and did not hold the screw. All that equals the caps don’t stay attached.
I ended up not attaching the cap again. It would not be that hard to make my own holes in a thicker section so the screws could hold the cap in place. I just didn’t feel like investing the time.
Also mine cracked in the side near the crest shaped cut out. So the un-capped end was cracked in three places. The top seam, bottom seam, and on the side. This caused the open end to lose it’s shape after a few games. While still playable, definitely not standing strong.
And on my third or fourth week of games it cracked in an unexpected place. Along the sleeve. From the top and almost all the way to the bolt hole. I’m not sure why that happened. I’ve not seen HDPE act like this so I’m really confused.
And as for the wear. I think it wears a fair amount. Not too fast and not something that could last forever. I have no complaints about the wear.

I can’t give this product a good review. I kind of think Eighthinch wants to make things to put their name on. I don’t feel like this was made for the abuse polo puts on the equipment. I think this is an attempt to make way into a growing market.

There have been a number of other players who have expressed their thoughts about this mallet and the company that made it. Not much of that has been positive.

In some of those responses, they have said they are making revisions to the design. But those are somewhat limited because of the mold. I think the best thing to do is wait and see if the second version is any better.

The top teams were determined by games played and the lower teams were by rounds won and by goal difference/goals scored

Over four days, on four courts, more than 100 teams played to be the best in the world.
In the weeks leading to this Championship 50 teams had already pre-qualified.
On Thursday there were 55 teams playing to determine the last 14 teams of the 64 teams allowed into the 2010 World Championships.
Over Friday and Saturday all 64 qualified teams played a total of 8 games each.
The best 32 teams advanced to Sunday, the final day, to play in a double elimination bracket.